South Korea's A Lim Kim opened the HSBC Women's World Championship with a 4-under-par 68 on Thursday to lead England's Charley Hull by one stroke in Singapore.
Kim and Hull were the only players to shoot in the 60s amid the blustery conditions on the Tanjong course at Sentosa Golf Club.
"Today a lot of wind, and that's very hard for me but everybody has the same situation," said Kim, who carded five birdies with one bogey at the par-5 16th hole.
"Tomorrow, I'm going to work harder. The wind is a lot of swirling and it's not consistent, so it was hard to read. But I have three more rounds to learn."
Kim hit 13 of 14 fairways to build her second first-round lead of 2025. She opened with a 65 and went on to win the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions earlier this month in Orlando, Florida.
Hull was one of two players to post a bogey-free round along with South Korea's Amy Yang, who is one of seven tied for seventh at 1-under.
"Not too badly," Hull said when asked how the winds affected her play.
"It was good. I quite enjoyed it. It was really fun out there. My boyfriend said to me, try to be inside like the top 5 by the first day to make him happy. I was just trying to like climb that leaderboard all the way around."
Four players are tied for third at 2-under: China's Ruoning Yin, Australia's Minjee Lee, Mexico's Gaby Lopez and South Korea's Hye-Jin Choi.
"Yeah, the wind was a little trickier today," Lee said. "I don't think we played or practiced in higher wind as strong as it was at times. A little swirly, like 4, all around there. So that was a little bit tricky."
Yin was 3-under through six holes and matched Kim for the day's lead with five birdies. Choi had a stretch with four birdies and a bogey from Nos. 12-16.
World No 2 Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand and No 3 Lydia Ko of New Zealand, the highest-ranked golfers in the field, are part of the group tied for seventh after shooting 71.
It was the 32nd consecutive round under par for Thitikul, just two short of the LPGA Tour record set by Jin Young Ko of South Korea set in 2022.
A Lim Kim comes out on top after a very blustery day at Sentosa Golf Club ⛳️💨
— LPGA (@LPGA) February 27, 2025
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